A Delightful Gift

There are some really neat gift ideas out there, and with the internet so handy it is pretty easy to find some absolutely adorable things to make for teachers and friends. One of my children came home from  school this past week with an absolutely adorable gift...

Isn't that the cutest hot chocolate making gift you ever saw? It is made in a clear cake decorating bag with green or red candies in the top, then a thin layer of marshmallows, then hot chocolate mix and a larger amount of marshmallows. It is tied off at the bottom with a twist tie and a ribbon and then a nose and eyes are glued on as well as a cotton ball for a mustache and a pom pom on top for the tip of the hat! I love it. It is so unique!

What fun it is to use our creativity to delight and thrill others at Christmas time. I love hand made gifts. I love making them and I love receiving them. I love the thought that goes into them and the loving time that is given as part of the gift. Christmas time gives us so many opportunities for us to share the joy we feel each and every day with others. When we do, our joy and theirs grows. It's contagious and wonderful.

Merry Christmas!!!

Sweets for the Sweet

Well, what would the Christmas holidays be if they weren't accented with sweet treats to tantalize our taste buds?  A while ago we started making candy...

We made magic cookie bars

Home made caramels

Fudge that we turned into chocolate fondant,
and peanut brittle.

That was just the candy.. we've got lots more baking to do, but since then we have finished our chocolates! That is one tradition that is sometimes put off to the last few days before Christmas - but not this year!!!

We had some very willing helpers, and they did a fantastic job of dipping the candy while I rolled it into balls. With the candy done, they decided to dip a few pretzels as well.

One of our key ingredients behind some of these tasty treats is sweetened condensed milk. We make our own and it makes the Christmas candy absolutely scrumptious!!!

Here's the recipe. It's amazing when you look at the list of ingredients, but it really does taste like the real thing!!!

1 cup instant nonfat dry milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3-1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup (2 oz) melted butter

Preparation:
1. Place the dry milk, granulated sugar, 1/3 cup of the boiling water, and the melted butter in a blender.
2. Blend all ingredients together until they are smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender occasionally to get all the dry ingredients incorporated.
3. Condensed milk typically has a thick, syrupy consistency, but if your homemade condensed milk is too thick to pour easily, add another spoonful or two of boiling water and blend to incorporate. Adjust the water until you are happy with the consistency.
4. Use your homemade sweetened condensed milk right away, or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It will get thicker when it is refrigerated, but will loosen up when stirred and brought to room temperature.

And so the baking truly begins!!! I love home made treats and I love feeding them to my family! I also love that my family is always willing and eager to share in the work. There is no shortage of bowls and spoons that need licking or sampling. It is a fun time of year when we spend a lot of time in the kitchen working together to make a host of scrumptious delicacies. It is a time to look forward to and treasure. I am so blessed to have a family that brings me an indescribably amount of joy, just in every day events of life!

Deck the Halls

Well, this year we put the trees up early, but the rest of the decorating was not done at the same time due to time constraints. We've been working at it a little at a time since then and for Family Home Evening this past week we finished it off!

First we started with a sparkling blue poinsettia! I love the color and for Christmas this is one of my favorite flowers! With the beckoning of a cheerful poinsettia we were ready to pull out the rest of the decorations!

A little fluff sprinkled with course glitter under the tree. Than strands of tinsel were draped over the tree boughs and we even found a few more decorations to add to the tree! That completes that corner...

Next we put out our nativity sets. We displayed them with our village scene because Christmas reminds us that our every day lives are lived with the remembrance of the Savior always nearby. That helps us to remember the Reason for the Season and to reach out to help and serve those in need.

This picture shows how we have displayed the village (which is characterized with a church for us to worship our Lord, Jesus Christ) with the nearby nativity scenes - a constant reminder of the joy of the Saviors birth!

That evening I couldn't help but bask in the Christmas ambiance of the rooms we decorated.

There are so many wonderful remembrances around us of the Savior and his life and how it gives us hope and peace and joy as we seek to follow Him and make His ways our ways. As we do this Christmas is no longer a single season of the year, but rather it is a way to live, a way of life. The Christmas celebration then becomes a wonderful time to reflect on our progress and make plans to improve even more. As we work on improving ourselves and helping others, Christmas becomes our way of life. No wonder Christmas is the favorite holiday of so many people. It holds the secret to living a life filled with joy. 

May your Christmas Season be filled with joy that lasts the whole year long!

JOY

Joy is one of my favorite words! This year it is the inspiration for some of my craft ideas. This post is just a compilation of the different ideas that I like.... we will have to wait and see how many I actually do!

This one is my favorite of all!

Well - that's a lot of joy!!! Have a JOY filled Christmas season and may the reason for the Season be with you throughout the coming month and into the New Year!!!

Warm Blessings

Well it took all day long but we'll be warm this winter! We have such wonderful hard working children that have together with friends brought in a bounteous load of firewood from the hills. The Lord has truly blessed us this year!

There is nothing quite like the heat that comes off  a fireplace. It is warm and welcoming. It is immediately satisfying and it warms a room into a cozy wonderful place to be.

I can't help but reminisce back to growing up when we would visit our grandparents way up north each year at Christmas. My grandparents used wood and coal to heat their house and every time I smell wood smoke now - even twenty years later - I am reminded of the special times we spent there with them. For me our fire place brings back those special memories every year. I remember the home made chocolates, family visits, family meals, playing pool in the garage, the ceramic room, the root cellar and so much more. Grandma loved plants and filled her windows with them. I remember trying to play songs on the old out of tune piano that had keys that were missing the ivory, the snow outside, the occasional snowman and walking down the driveway with the sled. Those were good times. I was blessed with memories of my grandparents that are special to me - even though they lived so far away and we didn't see them often.

Jay and Helen Leavitt Home

It is interesting how when we filter out the busyness of life, looking back, the things that are left are the moments we have had to spend with special people at special times. The busy things that filled our time  in order to get there are forgotten, but the moment remains a part of our memory - as though frozen in time, treasured and cherished for the warm blessings that they are. What a joy it is to revel in special memories - focusing on the good things in life. It is like standing before a warm, cozy fire on a cold winter night, loving life.